Since the emergence of Internet file sharing, the music industry has been experimenting with new models of distributing music. Before the invention of the music download, the music industry went through phases of distributing music through physical exchange of media, such as the 8-track, the vinyl, the cassette, and the CD. Today, with the emergence of electronic music purchasing services, purely digital transfer of music dominates music distribution. Physical storefronts selling music embodied on physical media have become rare and exist mostly as specialty shops for music enthusiasts.
In the past, borrowing and giving music as a gift was easy. Individuals could merely give or borrow the physical media. However, it is more problematic with digital music files since the digital media can be easily reproduced and transferred to multiple different individuals. To this end, encryption systems for preventing the transfer of music files is has been adopted, but these systems suffer from a drawback in that they do not provide a convenient system for temporarily sharing music and options to purchase shared music. As such, there remains a need for a middle ground that permits a user to temporarily share a music file with another while still maintaining control over its reproduction and further distribution and which provides the borrower the opportunity to conveniently purchase the same music.